Chapter 19
"… Will you even let me try to explain?" Tony spoke with his eyes glued to the second arrow charge into the practice bow in Clint´s hands.
"I´d rather not." The archer muttered, glaring.
"Breathe, birdie…"
"DO YOU EVEN REALIZE WHO´S BEHIND YOU?!" Tony winced lightly when Clint seemingly lost it. "Move"
"Ehm… Nope."
"Stark."
"Back to that, Barton?" He raised an eyebrow, pretending to be calmed even when his heart raced. "I know what I´m doing, Clint."
"Well, I think…" However, whatever Clint thought was interrupted by a heavy set of steps, and sure enough, Thor came in sight short after, Mjölnir in his grasp, and he stepped up in between Clint and Tony.
"Friend Clint.."
The glare the brunet shot the Norse was positively venomous.
"I should´ve seen this one coming…"
"Clint, really, calm down."
"I´M NOT-"
"I can´t harm you." It seemed as if just the sound of Loki´s voice had rendered Clint speechless, and it suddenly occurred to Tony that he didn´t have a clue about what had happened in Clint´s head when he had been controlled. "And I can´t control you again, either. It´s gone." His words were followed by silence, Thor shooting a glance over his shoulder at him, and Tony jumped on the chance.
"See? You´re good. I´m good."
"Excuse me, last time he had your neck you went on a one way trip down the tower." Clint´s hands had not left the bow, but at least he risked a glance at Tony as he spoke.
"Not this time, I swear." And he looked over his shoulder at the hunched god under the table. "I hope. Will you hear us out?"
"You do know Natasha´s going to find out, don´t you?"
"Of course he knows." A new voice echoed in the workshop. "That´s why I brought her."
And Tony felt his balls begin to recede into his body, because telling Clint was one thing and telling Natasha Fucking Romanoff was something completely different what the hell was Steve thinking?
He glared at the blond when he walked in, followed closely by Natasha. He greeted her with a gesture, which she answered with a steady, expressionless gaze that only wavered for a second, when she recognized the extra limbs from under the table.
"This better be good." Was all she said.
"Let´s take this upstairs." Steve proposed.
"Let´s not." Tony intervened, sending him another glare that addressed the ´my workshop is no bugged´ issue very clearly. The blond cleared his throat.
"Fine. But I think it would be better if… It was only us, you know?"
"He´s not going off my sight." Clint snarled.
"Chill, birdie. I´ll get him to my floor, and Jarvis will lock the exits." And he climbed to his feet slowly, thanking the shield Thor provided when he offered a hand to the fallen god.
"Do you honestly think that can stop him?"
He pushed Loki toward the exit when he noticed Clint´s hands tensing on the bow again.
"That´s part of what we have to discuss." Steve intervened, and Tony used the distraction to push Loki into his personal elevator.
-
"This is… Not what I had planned." Loki muttered.
"Welcome to the Avengers´Tower." Tony huffed, rolling his eyes. "Stay in the penthouse. Jarvis will keep the doors locked, and if something goes wrong, I´ll send you a warning, and he´ll show you an emergency exit. In the worst of cases, the apartment´s still safe."
"Barton should calm down when he´s assured I´m harmless."
"You could still break his spine singlehandedly, though."
"That is not what he fears."
Tony looked up at him. "You would know, wouldn´t you?"
"I would, in fact. I was touched to, after all." He remarked, leaving the elevator without turning his back on him.
-
Tony stared at his blurry reflection under the elevator´s lights. How had he ended up in this situation?
He concluded it had all been over for him when he had stared into the god´s eyes that day at the park, when he´d been taken back to Asgard.
That was the first time he´d understood, and, as often happened with him, the need to know more had never left.
The doors opened again, and he was faced with a wall of awkward silence and his teammates all lingering in separated points of the workshop.
"Nice." He gestured to a corner of the room that held a somewhat big table and a couple of chairs, in case Pepper needed papers signed and couldn´t force him out.
Clint took a seat, and Steve offered the remaining one to Natasha, just to sit himself when she refused. She turned to stare at Tony.
"Why are you housing a criminal, Stark?"
Tony rubbed his nape. "Technically, I´m housing an ex-convict." And he cleared his throat. "Thor…"
The biggest blond cleared his throat, stepping closer to the group. "When I took my brother back to Asgard, I new he was sure to receive some sort of punishment, and rightly so, for my Father realizes the seriousness of his actions in Midgard." He started, his thick fingers drumming rhythmically against the table. "And I was right. He was subjected to a trial, he was condemned, and he was punished."
"Sure… A slap on the wrist and a time-out for the Allfather´s little boy." Clint crossed his arms, and actually glared at Natasha when she elbowed him.
"More like imprisonment, like any other, friend Clint. In my Father´s secret dungeons for my people wasn´t to know he had survived his fall. And I must tell you, Asgardian prison is much more than just a cell."
Tony frowned. Definitively, the next thing on his list was asking Loki himself about that.
"His magic was then stripped from him and he was banished to Midgard. My Father´s spell makes it as such that his power weakens gradually the further he is from me, and thus, he was forced to stay in the city, hidden."
"Tony found him on accident and after speaking with Thor, he borrowed him one of his spare apartments so he´d be safe."
"Because that´s what you do when the maddened alien that tried to kill you once gets back in town, huh?" Clint intervened again dryly.
Tony smirked. "I bought him breakfast first, if that helps."
Clint flipped him off, but his focus went to Natasha, who frowned and narrowed her eyes.
"Hidden. Safe." She repeated. "From what, exactly?"
Tony leaned forward. "The Chitauri." Clint´s eyes widened at his words.
"They did come…" He muttered under his breath.
"What?"
The archer shook his head. "He knew." And he stared directly into Tony´s eyes. "Is he really powerless?"
Tony nodded. "The scepter is under S.H.I.E.L.D.´s surveillance. And even when he helped me return it, he made no attempt at getting it back, so I´d say he doesn´t really want it."
"So it was you in the headquarters." Natasha nodded to herself. "Coulson will be glad to know he was…"
"No!" Thor leaned forward, and the redhead actually flinched back, and reached into her belt. "The Son of Coul must not know about my brother, Natasha, please… My brother has paid his crimes, and it is not fair for him to be imprisoned a second time."
"He´s dangerous." Was all she gave for an answer.
"So are you. So is he. All of us." And Thor made a gesture that pointed first at Natasha, then at Clint, and then to Steve, Tony and himself.
"It´s different."
"But why? I was banished here once, as a lesson. It worked for me, and it´s working for him."
"How can you be so sure?" Clint questioned, and Tony took it as his cue.
"I can be sure." He voiced aloud. "I think." He added, when he had everyone´s attention.
Thor gave him a brief smile and a nod. "And so can I, for my brother has changed since his arrival."
"How exactly did you agree to this?" Clint looked at Steve, who shrugged.
"They gave me good arguments, and I asked for Loki´s word that he´d behave, which he has until now…"
"Do you all realize he could be playing you?" Natasha frowned again, and Tony smirked.
"Sweetheart, the possibility that you are the one playing us is the one that keeps me awake at night, I don´t have time to worry about him."
"This won´t work. We need to tell him." Clint began standing up, and so did Steve, Tony tensing on reflex when Thor stepped forward. "Give me a reason why I shouldn´t."
"There´s no reason! We´re a team, we cover each other´s backs and we help with each other´s shit!" Tony looked at Steve for help, and the blond nodded.
"Crude, but yes. I am well aware that our team was assembled by S.H.I.E.L.D. but we can´t belong to them. We have to belong to ourselves, save we end up harming third parties."
"You keep saying that, all I can think of is how you guys have been hiding Loki for God knows how long now."
"Six months, approximately." Tony declared. "And I did it because Thor needed help, and he didn´t even trust us enough to ask for it."
"So generous, Stark." Natasha crossed her arms. "What you´re suggesting is a violation of at least half of our codes, and you´re asking us to do so in the name of comradeship alone?"
"Yes?" Tony shrugged.
"Please…" Thor muttered.
"I get it from him… But why do you even care?"
Tony forced a smile. "That´s something I have to discuss with some people before I can explain it."
"… Are you serious?"
"I mean it, shut up."
Natasha rubbed her forehead. "What does Banner have to say on the matter?"
"Yes, he… Well…"
"I can´t believe you."
"Hey, I had God of Thunder here threatening to crush me if I told anyone!" Tony pointed at Thor, who had the decency to look embarrassed.
"How did Steve find out then?"
"He´s a sneaky bastard."
"That, and Tony is a really bad liar." The blond added smiling. Clint huffed.
"Tell him. Then we´ll vote."
"And will you stick to what we decide as a team?" Steve asked, staring at the assassins through narrowed lids.
It took them a couple of seconds, but in the end, they both nodded. Thor smiled, running a hand through his hair.
"Thank you…"
"We still need to vote." Natasha answered, but her stony façade vanished for a moment when Thor focused his fond smile on her.
"Still." And he walked out. "I will look for Bruce, friends."
Steve fidgeted for a second in his place, before following him. "We know how he breaks news. And I think we all remember what happened last time he and the other guy had a disagreement."
The team shivered with the memory, as Steve´s ankle disappeared up the stairs.
"You two can… Wait here, I guess. I have to speak to Bruce either way." And he felt like he was giving himself a death sentence. "Don´t mess with my stuff, please."
"We don't have all day, Stark."
Still staring suspiciously at Natasha, Tony walked to his elevator again.
"Jarvis?"
"Yes, sir?"
"… Keep an eye on them."
"Of course, sir."
-
At first glance he thought the floor was empty.
It was only when he started pacing around, looking for the sneaky god, that he found him fixing himself a drink in his bar.
"I thought you didn´t drink my ´pathetic alcohol´ " He smirked.
Loki looked at him over the rim of the crystal glass. "I said I wouldn´t drink it with you. I did not mention not drinking it altogether." And he put the container down. "I presume everything went well?"
"Better than expected, actually. You should be fine. We just need to speak to Bruce, and then well vote."
"The… Monster?"
"Nu-uh. Don´t call him that." He frowned. "Bruce is the difference between you staying and us getting kicked by Natasha before she gets to you."
At this, Loki smiled. "Well, then, by all means, speak nicely of me to the good doctor."
"Is that even possible, Sweetcheeks?"
"I´m getting fed up with that, Stark."
Tony laughed, before taking a look at the clock in the wall, and sighing.
"They should´ve found him already." He cracked his neck. "Wish me luck?"
"Good luck." Was the god´s response.
"Really?"
Loki smirked, and that was a ´come and get it´, if Tony had ever seen one.
"Tease." He muttered under his breath, leaning closer to the god like he´d done barely an hour ago.
It was only Jarvis cameras that caught the way the god leaned into the touch delivered to his cheek. The way he allowed himself to be pulled forward and his lips to be claimed. The way he clung to the fabric on Tony´s shirt a second too long after the kiss had ended, and whispered into his ear.
Or the way he quickly downed the remaining alcohol when the mortal walked back into the elevator, with the words still ringing into his ears.
"Don´t get killed."
And coming from Loki, what else could he wish for?